<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/loose.dtd">
<html>
  <head>
    <title>How to ...? - fre:ac User Guide</title>
    <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8"/>
    <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="../style/style.css"/>

    <!-- Hack to avoid flash of unstyled content in IE -->
    <script> </script>
  </head>

  <body id="onecolumn">
    <div id="container">
      <div class="wrapper">

	<div id="header">
	  <div class="wrapper">
	    <h1 id="page-title">
	      <div id="g_title">How to ...? - fre:ac User Guide</div>
	    </h1>
	    <p class="description"></p>
	    <div id="g_description">
	      <p>fre:ac setup and special features guide</p>
	    </div>
	  </div>
	</div>

	<div id="main-content-oc">
	  <div class="wrapper">
	    <div class="content-item">
	      <div id='g_body'>
		<h4>Contents</h4>
		<blockquote>
		  <p><a href="#anchor_src">How to compile fre:ac from source?</a></p>
		  <p><a href="#anchor_enc">How to install encoder/decoder xy?</a></p>
		  <p><a href="#anchor_pat">How to use output file name patterns in fre:ac?</a></p>
		  <p><a href="#anchor_tra">How to add a new translation to fre:ac?</a></p>
		  <p><a href="#anchor_rem">How to remove fre:ac from my computer?</a></p>
		</blockquote>
		<h4 id="anchor_src">How to compile fre:ac from source?</h4>
		<blockquote>
		  <p>In order to build fre:ac from source you should download the latest version of the
		    <b>fre:ac Component Development Kit</b> (CDK) from <a href="http://www.freac.org/">www.freac.org</a> first.</p>
		  <p>You will also need the latest <b>smooth Class Library</b> sources from <a href="http://www.smooth-project.org/">www.smooth-project.org</a>
		    and of course the <b>fre:ac source code</b> package or fre:ac sources checked out from Git.</p>
		  <ul>
		    <li>extract the contents of <b>freac-cdk-1.x.zip</b> to anywhere you like</li>
		    <li>create a folder structure like this:
		      <blockquote>
			/cdk (contains folder <b>system</b> and <b>cdk.bat</b>)<br/>
			/cdk/freac (rename folder from <b>freac-1.1.x.zip</b> package)<br/>
			/cdk/smooth (rename folder from <b>smooth-0.8.x.y.zip</b> package)
		      </blockquote>
		    </li>
		    <li>run <b>cdk.bat</b></li>
		    <li>enter: <b>cd smooth && make programs && cd ../freac && make</b></li>
		  </ul>
		</blockquote>
		<h4 id="anchor_enc">How to install encoder/decoder xy?</h4>
		<blockquote>
		  <h5>Nero Digital HE-AAC Encoder</h5>
		  <blockquote>
		    <p>To install the Nero Digital HE-AAC Encoder for use with fre:ac, follow these steps:</p>
		    <ul>
		      <li>Download the <b>Nero AAC Codec ZIP package</b> from <a href="http://www.free-codecs.com/download/nero_aac_codec.htm">www.free-codecs.com</a>.</li>
		      <li>Copy the file <b>NeroAACEnc.exe</b> from the ZIP package to the <b>codecs/cmdline</b>
			subfolder of your fre:ac installation path.</li>
		    </ul>
		  </blockquote>
		  <h5>QuickTime AAC Encoder</h5>
		  <blockquote>
		    <p>To install the QuickTime AAC Encoder for use with fre:ac, follow these steps:</p>
		    <ul>
		      <li>Download the <b>QuickTime AAC command line encoder ZIP package</b> from <a href="https://sites.google.com/site/qaacpage/">sites.google.com</a>.</li>
		      <li>Copy the file <b>qaac.exe</b> or <b>qaac64.exe</b> from the ZIP package to the <b>codecs/cmdline</b>
			subfolder of your fre:ac installation path.</li>
		    </ul>
		  </blockquote>
		  <h5>DivX AAC Encoder</h5>
		  <blockquote>
		    <p>To install the DivX AAC Encoder for use with fre:ac, follow these steps:</p>
		    <ul>
		      <li>Download the <b>DivX AAC Encoder setup package</b> from <a href="http://labs.divx.com/node/127866">labs.divx.com</a>.</li>
		      <li>Run the setup executable and install the DivX AAC Encoder to a folder of your choice.</li>
		      <li>Copy the file <b>DivXAACEnc.exe</b> from the DivX AAC Encoder installation folder to the <b>codecs/cmdline</b>
			subfolder of your fre:ac installation path.</li>
		    </ul>
		  </blockquote>
		  <h5>Helix DNA Producer RealAudio Encoder</h5>
		  <blockquote>
		    <p>To install the Helix DNA Producer RealAudio Encoder for use with fre:ac, follow these steps:</p>
		    <ul>
		      <li>Create a <b>Helix Community account</b> at <a href="https://helixcommunity.org/account/register">helixcommunity.org</a>.
			You will need this account in order to be able to download the Helix DNA Producer application.</li>
		      <li>Download the <b>Helix DNA Producer Command Line App ZIP package</b> from <a href="https://helix-producer.helixcommunity.org/Downloads.htm">helix-producer.helixcommunity.org</a>.</li>
		      <li>Create a new folder named <b>helix</b> inside the <b>codecs/cmdline</b> subfolder of your
			fre:ac installation path.</li>
		      <li>Copy the contents of the folder <b>producer</b> from the ZIP package to the newly created <b>codecs/cmdline/helix</b>
			subfolder of your fre:ac installation path. The file <b>producer.exe</b> should now reside inside the <b>helix</b> folder
			along with several other files and directories from the Helix DNA Producer package.</li>
		    </ul>
		  </blockquote>
		  <h5>TiMidity Software MIDI Synthesizer</h5>
		  <blockquote>
		    <p>To install the TiMidity Software MIDI Synthesizer for use with fre:ac, follow these steps:</p>
		    <ul>
		      <li>Download the <b>TiMidity CVS binary ZIP package</b> from <a href="http://sourceforge.net/projects/twsynth/files/">sourceforge.net</a>.</li>
		      <li>Download the <b>Freepats ZIP package</b> from <a href="http://freepats.zenvoid.org/">freepats.zenvoid.org</a>.</li>
		      <li>Create a new folder named <b>timidity</b> inside the <b>codecs/cmdline</b> subfolder of your
			fre:ac installation path.</li>
		      <li>Copy the file <b>timidity.exe</b> from the TiMidity ZIP package to the newly created <b>codecs/cmdline/timidity</b>
			subfolder of your fre:ac installation path.</li>
		      <li>Copy the contents of the folder <b>freepats</b> from the Freepats ZIP package to the newly created <b>codecs/cmdline/timidity</b>
			subfolder of your fre:ac installation path. The file <b>crude.cfg</b> should now reside inside the <b>timidity</b> folder
			along with several other files and directories from the Freepats package.</li>
		    </ul>
		  </blockquote>
		  <h5>MPEG-4 Audio Lossless Encoder / Decoder</h5>
		  <blockquote>
		    <p>To install the MPEG-4 Audio Lossless Encoder / Decoder for use with fre:ac, follow these steps:</p>
		    <ul>
		      <li>Download the <b>MPEG-4 ALS Windows Codec ZIP package</b> from <a href="http://www.nue.tu-berlin.de/mp4als">www.nue.tu-berlin.de</a>.</li>
		      <li>Copy the .exe file found in the ZIP package to the <b>codecs/cmdline</b>
			subfolder of your fre:ac installation path <b>renaming it to mp4als.exe</b>.</li>
		    </ul>
		  </blockquote>
		  <h5>True Audio Encoder / Decoder</h5>
		  <blockquote>
		    <p>To install the True Audio Encoder / Decoder for use with fre:ac, follow these steps:</p>
		    <ul>
		      <li>Download the <b>TTA compressor for Windows ZIP package</b> from <a href="http://www.true-audio.com/Free_Downloads">www.true-audio.com</a>.</li>
		      <li>Copy the file <b>ttaenc.exe</b> from the ZIP package to the <b>codecs/cmdline</b>
			subfolder of your fre:ac installation path.</li>
		    </ul>
		  </blockquote>
		  <h5>Flake FLAC Encoder</h5>
		  <blockquote>
		    <p>To install the Flake FLAC Encoder for use with fre:ac, follow these steps:</p>
		    <ul>
		      <li>Download the <b>Flake Windows binary ZIP package</b> from <a href="http://flake-enc.sourceforge.net/download.html">flake-enc.sourceforge.net</a>.</li>
		      <li>Copy the file <b>flake.exe</b> from the ZIP package to the <b>codecs/cmdline</b>
			subfolder of your fre:ac installation path.</li>
		    </ul>
		  </blockquote>
		  <h5>FLACCL OpenCL FLAC Encoder</h5>
		  <blockquote>
		    <p>To install the FLACCL OpenCL FLAC Encoder for use with fre:ac, follow these steps:</p>
		    <ul>
		      <li>Download the <b>FLACCL RAR package</b> from <a href="http://www.cuetools.net/wiki/FLACCL">cuetools.net</a>.</li>
		      <li>Create a new folder named <b>flaccl</b> inside the <b>codecs/cmdline</b> subfolder of your
			fre:ac installation path.</li>
		      <li>Copy all files from the RAR package to the <b>codecs/cmdline/flaccl</b> subfolder of your fre:ac installation path.</li>
		    </ul>
		  </blockquote>
		  <h5>LAME MP3 Command Line Encoder</h5>
		  <blockquote>
		    <p>To install the LAME MP3 Command Line Encoder for use with fre:ac, follow these steps:</p>
		    <ul>
		      <li>Download the <b>LAME release ZIP package</b> from <a href="http://rarewares.org/mp3-lame-bundle.php">rarewares.org</a>.</li>
		      <li>Copy the file <b>lame.exe</b> from the ZIP package to the <b>codecs/cmdline</b>
			subfolder of your fre:ac installation path.</li>
		    </ul>
		  </blockquote>
		  <h5>TwoLAME MP2 Encoder</h5>
		  <blockquote>
		    <p>To install the TwoLAME MP2 Encoder for use with fre:ac, follow these steps:</p>
		    <ul>
		      <li>Download the <b>TwoLAME binary ZIP package</b> from <a href="http://rarewares.org/mp3-others.php#twolame">rarewares.org</a>.</li>
		      <li>Copy the file <b>twolame.exe</b> from the ZIP package to the <b>codecs/cmdline</b>
			subfolder of your fre:ac installation path.</li>
		    </ul>
		  </blockquote>
		  <h5>Aften AC-3 Encoder</h5>
		  <blockquote>
		    <p>To install the Aften AC-3 Encoder for use with fre:ac, follow these steps:</p>
		    <ul>
		      <li>Download the <b>Aften Win32 binary ZIP package</b> from <a href="http://sourceforge.net/projects/win32builds/files/">sourceforge.net</a>.</li>
		      <li>Copy the file <b>aften.exe</b> from the ZIP package to the <b>codecs/cmdline</b>
			subfolder of your fre:ac installation path.</li>
		    </ul>
		  </blockquote>
		  <h5>Apple Lossless Decoder</h5>
		  <blockquote>
		    <p>The Apple Lossless Decoder is bundled with the original fre:ac
		      distribution so you normally do not need to install it manually.</p>
		    <p>If you still need to install or update the Apple Lossless Decoder
		      manually, follow these steps:</p>
		    <ul>
		      <li>Download the <b>generic Win32 compile ZIP package</b> from <a href="http://www.rarewares.org/lossless.php#alac">www.rarewares.org</a>.</li>
		      <li>Copy the file <b>alac.exe</b> from the ZIP package to the <b>codecs/cmdline</b>
			subfolder of your fre:ac installation path.</li>
		    </ul>
		  </blockquote>
		  <h5>TAK Encoder / Decoder</h5>
		  <blockquote>
		    <p>The TAK Encoder / Decoder is bundled with the original fre:ac
		      distribution so you normally do not need to install it manually.</p>
		    <p>If you still need to install or update the TAK Encoder / Decoder
		      manually, follow these steps:</p>
		    <ul>
		      <li>Download the <b>TAK ZIP package</b> from <a href="http://thbeck.de/Tak/Tak.html">thbeck.de</a>.</li>
		      <li>Copy the file <b>takc.exe</b> from the ZIP package to the <b>codecs/cmdline</b>
			subfolder of your fre:ac installation path.</li>
		    </ul>
		  </blockquote>
		  <h5>Musepack Encoder / Decoder</h5>
		  <blockquote>
		    <p>The Musepack Encoder / Decoder is bundled with the original fre:ac
		      distribution so you normally do not need to install it manually.</p>
		    <p>If you still need to install or update the Musepack Encoder / Decoder
		      manually, follow these steps:</p>
		    <ul>
		      <li>Download the <b>Musepack tools ZIP package</b> from <a href="http://www.musepack.net/index.php?pg=win">www.musepack.net</a>.</li>
		      <li>Copy the files <b>mpcenc.exe</b> and <b>mpcdec.exe</b> from the ZIP package to the <b>codecs/cmdline</b>
			subfolder of your fre:ac installation path.</li>
		    </ul>
		  </blockquote>
		  <h5>WavPack Encoder / Decoder</h5>
		  <blockquote>
		    <p>The WavPack Encoder / Decoder is bundled with the original fre:ac
		      distribution so you normally do not need to install it manually.</p>
		    <p>If you still need to install or update the WavPack Encoder / Decoder
		      manually, follow these steps:</p>
		    <ul>
		      <li>Download the <b>WavPack Win32 ZIP package</b> from <a href="http://www.wavpack.com/downloads.html">www.wavpack.com</a>.</li>
		      <li>Copy the files <b>wavpack.exe</b> and <b>wvunpack.exe</b> from the ZIP package to the <b>codecs/cmdline</b>
			subfolder of your fre:ac installation path.</li>
		    </ul>
		  </blockquote>
		  <h5>OptimFROG Encoder / Decoder</h5>
		  <blockquote>
		    <p>To install the OptimFROG Encoder / Decoder for use with fre:ac, follow these steps:</p>
		    <ul>
		      <li>Download the <b>OptimFROG Win32 console ZIP package</b> from <a href="http://www.losslessaudio.org/Downloads.php">www.losslessaudio.org</a>.</li>
		      <li>Copy the file <b>ofr.exe</b> from the ZIP package to the <b>codecs/cmdline</b>
			subfolder of your fre:ac installation path.</li>
		    </ul>
		  </blockquote>
		  <h5>Shorten Encoder / Decoder</h5>
		  <blockquote>
		    <p>To install the Shorten Encoder / Decoder for use with fre:ac, follow these steps:</p>
		    <ul>
		      <li>Download the <b>Shorten ZIP package</b> from <a href="http://www.free-codecs.com/download/Shorten.htm">www.free-codecs.com</a>.</li>
		      <li>Copy the file <b>shorten.exe</b> from the ZIP package to the <b>codecs/cmdline</b>
			subfolder of your fre:ac installation path.</li>
		    </ul>
		  </blockquote>
		  <h5>La Lossless Audio Encoder / Decoder</h5>
		  <blockquote>
		    <p>To install the La Lossless Audio Encoder / Decoder for use with fre:ac, follow these steps:</p>
		    <ul>
		      <li>Download the <b>La Windows setup package</b> from <a href="http://www.lossless-audio.com/download.htm">www.lossless-audio.com</a>.</li>
		      <li>Run the setup executable and install the La encoder to a folder of your choice.</li>
		      <li>Copy the file <b>la.exe</b> from the La installation folder to the <b>codecs/cmdline</b>
			subfolder of your fre:ac installation path.</li>
		      <li>Please note that the La encoder needs to stay installed on your system in order to
			use it in fre:ac.</li>
		    </ul>
		  </blockquote>
		  <h5>RK Audio Encoder / Decoder</h5>
		  <blockquote>
		    <p>To install the RK Audio Encoder / Decoder for use with fre:ac, follow these steps:</p>
		    <ul>
		      <li>Download the <b>RK Audio compressor ZIP package</b> from <a href="http://www.free-codecs.com/download/RK_Audio_compressor.htm">www.free-codecs.com</a>.</li>
		      <li>Copy the file <b>rkau.exe</b> from the ZIP package to the <b>codecs/cmdline</b>
			subfolder of your fre:ac installation path.</li>
		    </ul>
		  </blockquote>
		  <h5>DTS Coherent Acoustics Encoder</h5>
		  <blockquote>
		    <p>To install the DTS Coherent Audio Encoder for use with fre:ac, follow these steps:</p>
		    <ul>
		      <li>Download the <b>ffdcaenc binary ZIP package</b> from <a href="https://github.com/filler56789/ffdcaenc-2/releases">GitHub</a>.</li>
		      <li>Copy the file <b>ffdcaenc.exe</b> from the ZIP package to the <b>codecs/cmdline</b>
			subfolder of your fre:ac installation path.</li>
		    </ul>
		  </blockquote>
		  <h5>Extended Module Player (XMP) Decoder</h5>
		  <blockquote>
		    <p>To install the Extended Module Player (XMP) Decoder for use with fre:ac, follow these steps:</p>
		    <ul>
		      <li>Download the <b>Extended Module Player 7z package</b> from <a href="http://modland.com/pub/software/players/Windows/XMP%20(eXtended%20Module%20Player)/">modland.com</a>.</li>
		      <li>Copy the files <b>XMP.exe</b> and <b>LibXMP.dll</b> from the 7z package to the <b>codecs/cmdline</b>
			subfolder of your fre:ac installation path.</li>
		    </ul>
		  </blockquote>
		</blockquote>
		<h4 id="anchor_pat">How to use output file name patterns in fre:ac?</h4>
		<blockquote>
		  <p>The output file name pattern can be configured on the <b>Encoder</b> page of the configuration dialog. You can
		    use backslashes to specify directories and placeholders for referring to meta information. The following
		    placeholders are available:</p>
		  <ul>
		    <li><b>&lt;artist&gt;</b> - The song artist</li>
		    <li><b>&lt;title&gt;</b> - The song title</li>
		    <li><b>&lt;album&gt;</b> - The album title</li>
		    <li><b>&lt;disc&gt;</b> - The disc number</li>
		    <li><b>&lt;track&gt;</b> - The song track number</li>
		    <li><b>&lt;genre&gt;</b> - The song genre</li>
		    <br/>
		    <li><b>&lt;albumartist&gt;</b> - The album artist</li>
		    <br/>
		    <li><b>&lt;composer&gt;</b> - The song composer</li>
		    <li><b>&lt;conductor&gt;</b> - The performance conductor</li>
		    <br/>
		    <li><b>&lt;year&gt;</b> - The year the song was published</li>
		    <br/>
		    <li><b>&lt;currentdate&gt;</b> - The current date formatted as yyyymmdd</li>
		    <li><b>&lt;currenttime&gt;</b> - The current time formatted as hhmm</li>
		  </ul>
		  <p>The <b>&lt;disc&gt;</b> and <b>&lt;track&gt;</b> placeholders can be modified like <b>&lt;disc(n)&gt;</b> and <b>&lt;track(n)&gt;</b> where the <b>(n)</b>
		    part specifies the minimum length of the disc or track number. Zeroes will be prepended if the actual number is too small. <b>n</b> may be in the range of
		    <b>1</b> to <b>4</b> where <b>1</b> is the default for disc and <b>2</b> is the default for track numbers if the <b>(n)</b> part is omitted.</p>
		  <p>The above placeholders refer to song and album information. The following placeholder resolves to the type of the output file:</p>
		  <ul>
		    <li><b>&lt;filetype&gt;</b> - The type of the output file</li>
		  </ul>
		  <p>A common use case for this placeholder is if you are regularly encoding to different formats (e.g. FLAC for archival and M4A for your
		    mobile player) and would like to keep the encoded files in separate directory trees.</p>
		  <p>In addition to the above there are two placeholders that refer
		    to the original file name of a file being encoded in fre:ac:</p>
		  <ul>
		    <li><b>&lt;filename&gt;</b> - The file name of the input file</li>
		    <li><b>&lt;directory&gt;</b> - The folder the input file is found in</li>
		  </ul>
		  <p>The <b>&lt;directory&gt;</b> pattern is special as you can modify its meaning using two numerical arguments.
		    You can use it like <b>&lt;directory+n&gt;</b> or <b>&lt;directory+n(m)&gt;</b>. In these expressions, the <b>n</b>
		    specifies the number of path components that should be stripped from the beginning. The <b>m</b> specifies
		    the number of components to use from what is left. Omitting the <b>(m)</b> part will use all components left in the path after stripping
		    <b>n</b> components from the beginning. <b>&lt;directory&gt;</b> without any arguments will resolve to the complete path.<p>
		  <p>So how to use this in practice? Assuming you have your music collection ordered like this:</p>
		  <blockquote>
		    <p>C:\Music\[other criteria]\[artist]\[album]\[track] - [title]</p>
		  </blockquote>
		  <p>You might have a file called <b>C:\Music\Favorites\Starsailor\Silence is Easy\01 - Music was Saved.flac</b>.</p>
		  <p>Now let's say you want to encode some music files for use on your portable player and put them in <b>C:\Encoded\</b>.
		    In order to keep your <b>[other criteria]</b> field, you need to use the <b>&lt;directory&gt;</b> pattern.
		    If your encoder output folder is set to <b>C:\Encoded\</b>, your complete filename pattern could look like this:</p>
		  <blockquote>
		    <p>&lt;directory+1(1)&gt;\&lt;artist&gt; - &lt;album&gt;\&lt;artist&gt; - &lt;album&gt; - &lt;track&gt; - &lt;title&gt;</p>
		  </blockquote>
		  <p>This would encode the beforementioned file to <b>C:\Encoded\Favorites\Starsailor - Silence is Easy\Starsailor - Silence
		    is Easy - 01 - Music was Saved.m4a</b>.</p>
		</blockquote>
		<h4 id="anchor_tra">How to add a new translation to fre:ac?</h4>
		<blockquote>
		  <p>Please use the <b>smooth Translator</b> utility included in the fre:ac distribution and open an existing
		    translation file (found in the <b>freac/lang</b> folder). Then change the language settings to reflect
		    the translation you want to create and start translating the individual text strings. Save your translation
		    as a new file matching the pattern <b>freac_??.xml</b> (replace ?? with your language code), restart fre:ac
		    and try selecting the new translation in the configuration dialog.</p>
		  <p>Please submit your translation to <a href="mailto:translations@freac.org">translations@freac.org</a>, so it can be included in the official distribution.</p>
		</blockquote>
		<h4 id="anchor_rem">How to remove fre:ac from my computer?</h4>
		<blockquote>
		  <p>Recent versions of fre:ac come with an uninstaller that you can execute from the <b>Start</b> menu.</p>
		  <p>In case you removed the Start menu group or are unable to find it, it is completely sufficient to delete
		    the application folder to uninstall fre:ac. fre:ac does neither create any Windows registry entries
		    nor store any active components outside its installation folder.</p>
		</blockquote>
	      </div>
	    </div>
	  </div>
	</div>

	<div id="footer">
	  <div class="wrapper">
	    <p></p>
	    <div id='g_footer'>
	      <p>Copyright (C) 2006 Joseph Nahmias<br/>
		Copyright (C) 2007-2017 the fre:ac project</p>
	    </div>
	    <p></p>
	  </div>
	</div>

      </div>
    </div>
  </body>
</html>
